Social Security Office Closures Mulled

March 1, 1985|United Press International.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services is quietly circulating a proposal that could result in the closing of more than half the nation`s 1,340 Social Security field offices, Rep. Edward Roybal, D-Calif., said Thursday.

The field offices represent the first line of contact for most Social Security recipients and is the place they apply for benefits or arrange for changes.

``I have now learned that the administration is circulating a plan which would close Social Security offices with staffs of less than 15 and would possibly shut down those offices with staffs of less than 25 workers,`` Roybal said in a news release.

But Social Security Administration spokesman Jim Brown said the agency is not planning to close a specific number of facilities.

``We`re not intending to close half the number (of offices),`` he said. ``We are looking at all the installations we have to see if they are serving the public best.``

Roybal said he asked Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler about the memo at a hearing and she ``agreed a number of Social Security field offices would be closed but was not yet able to provide specific numbers. . . .``

The internal memo, released by Roybal, identifies field offices to be ``reviewed on a priority basis:``

Offices ``with staffs of 10 or less should be consolidated, closed or converted unless other considerations are overriding,`` offices ``with a staff size of 11-16 should be reviewed for conversion, consolidation or closing`` and offices with a staff size of 16-25 that are located within 25 miles from another full-service facility should be reviewed for possible consolidation, conversion, etc.``

Brown said the memo is just part of a plan to look at Social Security`s ``overall service to the public.``

The memo, he said, is being sent out to regional offices for comment by the end of March. At that time, review of all field offices will begin, he said.

``We`ll look at all the offices we have,`` he said. ``As an example, there`s an office in Colorado with less than five people in it. Would we close that office? No way. Because the next nearest office is 125 miles away and you would have to go through two ranges of the Rockies to get there. So you`re not going to close that office.

``We just want a better set of information,`` he said. ``Are we doing the best job with what we`ve got?``